Sleeve type wrapping stations are commonly part and parcel of automated packaging systems, namely, those characterized by the conveyance of product, usually, but not necessarily, an aggregation of discrete product elements, e.g., cans, bottles, jars, cartons, trays, etc. which are to be wrapped in furtherance of consolidating or securing the aggregation as a bundle or the like. Generally, conveyed product is received upon a conveyor of a wrapping station, with a leading edge of a wrapper or wrapping (i.e., a film sheet or the like), fed from below, interposed between the station conveyor and the product. Thereafter, a wand or wrap bar, which “orbits” or circumscribes so as to travel about the station conveyor (i.e, the wand, in looping fashion, ascends from below the leading edge of the station conveyor, travels over the length of the conveyor, and descends below the trailing edge of the station conveyor), engages the wrapper or wrapping, and directs it over and about the product. Upon exiting the wrapping station, a sleeved product proceeds for further processing, commonly, processing to effectuate a “shrinking” of the wrapper sleeve so as to bundle or otherwise secure the product so sleeved.
Characteristic of heretofore known sleeve type wrapping stations is a wand track and track follower. Notionally, a travel path for, or orbit of, the wand or wrap bar is delimited by a track, with the wand at least indirectly equipped with a track mating follower (see e.g., Gambetti (U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,474,041 & 6,964,147, and EP 1013552 A1), and Floding et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2004/0083689)). In connection to the latter teaching, an earlier filing of Applicant's incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, shortcomings were identified and discussed with regard to chain driven wand paths and those delimited by cam tracks/cam followers, for instance and without limitation, an inability to easily, efficiently and economically accommodate the effective processing of greater than one product batch (i.e., provide apparatus or methods that are adjustable to accommodate a large range of product profiles, e.g., a first batch run of 2×2 arrays of 1 liter bottles followed by a second batch run of 6×4 arrays of 8 ounce cans).
With a cam track formed of or from a plurality of cam segments readily interchangeable to define different shapes for the continuous path of a wrap support which engages and directs the sheet wrapper, Floding et al. enhanced automated packaging operations. While the disclosed cam track approach generally, and cam segment approach specifically, alone or in combination with, among other things, a slave driven conveyor table proved advantageous in furtherance of enhancing previously known automated packaging operations, it is believed that further improvement with regard to function so as to more quickly and efficiently process products of varied product profiles remain outstanding and attainable.
For example, and in contradistinction to chain drives, while the cam track approach generally permits advantageous select velocity and acceleration changes for the wand during its orbit, inherent practical limitations exist owing to the interface of the track follower with the cam track. Moreover, the noted inherent practical limitations further limit the overall processing speed or indwelling time of product at or within the wrapping station (i.e., the period of the orbit).
It has been found that advantageous cam track configurations or layouts corresponding to widely or commonly seen product profiles result in high pressure angle forces on the cam followers in the cam tracks or cam track portions. Moreover, and as should be readily appreciated, synchronous travel of opposing wand ends via their indirect travel upon opposing cam tracks is essential, with the wrapper station conveyor table support structure(s) not to be overlooked and/or undervalued with regard to that objective.
Further still, operator intervention in the form of a physical change out or change over of station components remains a necessity to accommodate the processing of a wide range of products intended for processing. In as much as improvements have been made to reduce down time associated with batch processing, continuous processing of a variable and varying product feed to a wrapping station remains as an important objective.
Thus in light of the foregoing, provisions for continuous wrap station operation via a given, mechanically fixed wrap station which readily processes and is inherently responsive to variable batch feeds of product (i.e., product batches each having a characteristic product profile relating to product height) for wrapping is believed desirable and advantageous. Furthermore, greater orbit path precision and speed., and smoother wand motion via orbit travel is believed desirable and advantageous. Further still, provisions for an improved wrapper station conveyor table support structure, for example, a unitary table support, is believed desirable and advantageous.